Nokia launches Lumia tablet, joins large-screen smartphone race

Nokia launches Lumia tablet, joins large-screen smartphone race

Nokia has unveiled its first tablet and large-screen smartphones, which will form part of Microsoft's global push to become a leading player in consumer devices when it takes over the Finnish company's handset business.

The Lumia 2520 tablet, along with the Lumia 1320 and 1520 phones are among the last products Nokia developed before deciding to sell the devices unit to Microsoft in a deal that is due to close in the first quarter of next year.

Nokia launches Lumia tablet, joins large-screen smartphone race

Nokia, once the global leader in mobile phones, arrived late to the smartphone race and has struggled to catch up with Apple and Samsung, who dominate the increasingly crowded market for large-screen smartphones, known as phablets.

The Lumia tablet, which has a 10-inch screen, will also face tough competition from the likes of Apple, which is expected to unveil slimmer, faster iPads on Tuesday.

The phablets, which both have 6-inch screens, will take on a multitude of similar devices from Samsung.

Nokia launches Lumia tablet, joins large-screen smartphone race

Others also questioned whether the new launch is enough to lure consumers back to Nokia and Microsoft, while Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said the Lumia 2520's position for Microsoft is unclear, particularly after the software giant launched its own tablets.

At midnight on Monday, Microsoft started selling its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets. Still feeling its way in the computer hardware business, the company is banking on the lighter and faster models boosting the lacklustre sales of its touch-screen devices.

"Despite a more affordable price, the respective positioning of Nokia's tablet versus the Surface 2 is not obvious and will have to be dealt with after the Nokia acquisition," Husson said.

Nokia launches Lumia tablet, joins large-screen smartphone race

The new devices will help Microsoft to increase the number of Windows users, but Husson said he expects it to remain a long way from "a significant installed base of consumers".

Nokia's former chief executive Stephen Elop, hired in 2010 to turn round the company, decided in early 2011 to drop Nokia's own operating system in favour of the Microsoft's untested Windows Phone software.

The Lumia devices have been well received by technology blogs and critics, but sales have been slow to pick up, partly because of a lack of Windows Phone apps and a limited marketing budget.